Liberace loses his sparkle

It was the cause célèbre of 1959. Flamboyant pianist Liberace took the Daily Mirror to the High Court, accusing the paper's star columnist of libel.

Cassandra, aka William Connor, had described the entertainer as a "fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love". In the years before homosexuality was legalised, this was not a desirable string of adjectives for anyone, least of all an entertainer with a huge female fan base.

Using the reports of the time, playwright TK Light has dramatised the trial, constructing a piece that plods diligently through the questioning of both sets of counsel.

Interestingly, homosexuality is a side issue, with nationality and wealth assuming far greater importance. What really irked a British Establishment only just emerging from the years of rationing and austerity was the American showman's unashamed love of money.

Bobby Crush neatly captures Liberace's crinkle-nosed, umpteen-carat diamanté smile, gurning to the gallery. He is a man of unknowable, perhaps even non-existent, depths, for whom surface show is everything and the declaration that homosexuality "offends convention and offends God" is simply a means to carry on raking in the dollars.

Oliver Bradshaw and Stephan Dunbar offer sharp supporting turns as the chatty old buffer of a judge and the Mirror's QC respectively, yet overall this does not sparkle as it should.

Fans of the man's music will be disappointed by the meagre tinkling of the ivories at the end, whereas those wanting to fit the piece into a wider picture will find it lacking in context.

Director Phil Willmott makes clever use of the tiny stage space, but this particular Suit is not cut from the finest cloth.

Until 19 June. Information: 020 7287 2875.

Liberace's Suit